Here's how Bengaluru pours public's money down the drain

Bengaluru may be known for a reasonably good infrastructure - With under bridges and flyovers to ease traffic. But the irony is that in the same city, the administration has sanctioned several the faulty designs, which now have to be demolished after construction. 

One example of such unscientific projects is the Maruthi Sevanagar and Banaswadi Railway Overbridge. Both are of no use to present day traffic. The Railway overbridge was built 15 years ago with Rs 13 crore. Eight meters width and over 150 meters long, it can no longer contain present day traffic movements.

"During peak hours, traffic gets stuck for over an hour. This is the only way to connect to West and Central Bengaluru for the residents here. This is the district in-charge minister KJ George's constituency, and he was stuck in traffic more than twice. The BBMP engineers have simply wasted money on this project," said N Venkatesh, Eshanya Mahavedike President and resident of Delhi Narayanappa Layout.

As this present-day ROB serves no purpose, residents have designed a new plan without disturbing the existing structure. The length has to be extended and the underpass needs to be built. However, the railway department's permission will be needed for this. 

"Now the ball is in BBMP's court. The BBMP, which had cleared unscientific ideas then will have to consider the new plan by residents. The plan was consulted with best engineers.", said Venkatesh. 

Like Maruti Sevanagar ROB, other projects on which BBMP wasted money are the underpasses on Ballari, Cunningham and Sankey Roads. The BBMP spent Rs 1.5 crore in Ballari and about Rs 45 lakh was spent on Cunningham and Sankey Road Underpasses. 

The BBMP claimed these would eliminate traffic. But these projects have turned into a bane for motorists during the monsoons, as the underpasses quickly flood and have to be shut.

"Faulty planning and terrible implementation of work resulted in many projects going for a toss. As per the Karnataka State Disaster Monitoring System Committee, there are about 60 vulnerable locations that get flooded during the rains, and the BBMP and BDA's underpass are no exceptions as they are done with faulty planning," said V Ravichander, Urban Expert. 

"These projects are of no use. I had other plans to divert traffic. Had the steel bridge come into effect, we would have closed these unscientific underpasses. We will soon come up with other ideas," said Minister KJ George.

• Bengaluru
• Infrastructure